Of course, once the South was "Civil Righted" Republicans wooed Southern Democrats as the more natural home for conservatives and local government federalists.
And the Democrats, losing the more conservative element filled the void with leftist and/or special interest groups.
The Trent Lotts of the world are only Republicans because Democrats have become leftwing extremists. Abraham Lincoln looks pretty good next to Fidel Castro.
It is interesting to note that When Woodrow Wilson, the first and foundational Democrat idealist of the 20th century, became President, Blacks were laid off from Federal jobs wholesale as a rollback of Republican policy, that being of getting more Blacks in U.S. Government employment.(Not as affirmative action but providing opportunity.
The Democrats may claim they are no longer Dixiecrats (But then who is?), but they can't claim they are no longer Wilsonians. They just found another racist methodology to manage the Black people.